As population of our nation continues to grow, so does the number of cars on the streets of our cities. But the streets themselves change little with time. The number of parking spots in the cities can hardly keep up with the number of cars. This leads to the parking havoc well known to residents of such metropolitan areas, as New York City. Sometimes it takes hours of searching to find a parking spot, only to realize that it is either too small, or barely sufficient for one's car. In either case, it usually takes some attempts and some bumper-bumping to figure out whether one's car will fit.
The bumpers of many old cars were intended for bumping. They were often the strongest part of the car, designed to bear out a collision, thus reducing the damage to the body of the car. However, safety, as well as marketing considerations of recent decades created a trend of weakening, or eliminating bumpers entirely, instead opting to maximize the damage to the car in order to redistribute the effects of collisions throughout the body of the vehicle. The absence or weakening of bumpers, while arguably beneficial for catastrophic high-speed collisions, has greatly reduced the ability of modern cars to deal with minor bumps and collisions.
The bumpers of most modern cars are fragile and are hardly adopted for metropolitan in-line parking. The bumpers usually form an integral part of the car and are often intended to be more of design than utilitarian elements. The surface of the bumpers is usually covered with a layer of the same paint as the body of the car and scratches and dents just as easily. These scratches and dents are impossible to avoid even if the driver is extra-careful in parking his or her vehicle. As the automobile is left in parallel parking, the neighbor in front or in the back is likely to bump into the car as he moves in or out of his own tight parallel parking spot. Thus, the bumpers of even the most careful new car owners in the city are covered in multitude of dents and scratches within months of buying a car.
Such dents and scratches obviously greatly reduce the value and aesthetic appearance of the car. They are difficult and expensive to repair. Unlike the metal and rubber bumpers of yesteryear, many bumper types can not be flexed into shape once damaged, requiring the replacement of the entire bumper to repair a dent. In other cases, manual removal of all paint and repainting of the entire surface is required to repair scratches. And often, particularly in expensive cars with exotic parts and finishes, the damage can not be repaired alltogether. This state of the industry leads to almost paranoidal fears of bumper scratches, particularly in drivers of the new and leased cars.
The market has responded to the owner's concerns and the vulnerability of the newer cars with several types of bumper protectors. The most popular one, is the rubber-floor-mat-type protector, suspendable over the rear bumper. This protector is intended to be carried in the trunk of the car, and then suspended out of the trunk, and over the bumper prior to parking. However, this type of protector has several major deficiencies. First, the design contemplates that part of the protector remains inside of the trunk, clamped by the trunk door, while another part covers the bumper. Such design effectively prevents positioning of such a protector over the front bumper, as this would require positioning part of the protector under the hood of the car, next to the engine and other moving parts. Clamping of the protector by the trunk door may also prevent the trunk from latching completely, and thus compromise the security of the contents of the trunk. Because of the large surface area, floor-mat bumper protectors take up significant storage space in the trunk. Because of the large surface area, such bumper protectors have to be made of thin rubber or other lightweight material, lest they become too heavy to handle. This limitation on thickness of the bumper protector limits its efficiency. Furthermore, bumper protectors of the mat design are not intended for permanent protection. Rather, they are intended to be attached to the rear bumper prior to parking. Thus, the driver has to exit the car, open the trunk, unfold and position the protector prior to parking. All of this creates major inconveniences. While it is possible to drive with mat bumper protector unfolded, this, in addition to increased fuel consumption, may create hazards for other drivers. For example, at high speed, the mat may disconnect and obstruct the vision of the driver in the car behind. Alternatively, the protector mat, flapping at high speeds under the bumper may raise mud and stones from the road, sending them on the collision course with other cars.
Another type of bumper protector is a rubberized strip protector that can be glued onto the front and rear bumpers of the car. This type of bumper protector is usually embodied as plain black rubber strip or a ribbed rubber strip. Such a protector, reminiscent of the old utilitarian bumper protectors, often greatly detracts from the streamlined design of modern cars. Since such bumper protectors are usually permanently-attached, they continue to be highly visible, and continue to detract from vehicle's visual appearance, even in places and situations where bumper protectors are inappropriate.
Thus, while the above bumper types provide some protection against bumper scratches, they are unsightly (detracting from the original design of the vehicle) and serve no utilitarian purpose other than shielding the bumper. Additionally, such bumper stickers may suggest negative connotations about the character of the vehicle's owner. For example, upon seeing a bumper protector of the type on the market today, one may assume that the owner is over-protective of his property or that one has a leased car and is worried about being charged for bumper scratches.
Furthermore, bumper protectors on the market today take the space of and interfere with the placement of the bumper stickers. For many car owners, bumper stickers present a valuable opportunity to personalize the vehicle, to make a personal statement, to promote a product or belief, and to otherwise communicate with fellow drivers. Bumper stickers are an extremely efficient way of conveying information, particularly the commercial advertisements. Drivers, behind the car with a bumper sticker become captive audience, as they have to look forward at the bumper of the car in front of them. But today, city drivers, can not elect to have personal messages on the bumpers, if they want protection from bumps and scratches. And even if they do not want to attach any bumper stickers, the choice is between a scratched unsightly bumper or the one covered with suspended rugs or plain strips of rubber.
In light of the problems and compromises associated with existing bumper protectors, there is a long-standing and unsatisfied need in the art for a versatile bumper protector that provides reliable protection for the front as well as the rear bumper. The bumper protector should not require constant attention, removal, or attachment prior to parking. The bumper protector should not create a potential for a road hazard and should not compromise the safety of the trunk. At the same time, the bumper sticker must be aesthetically pleasing, consistent with the overall vehicle design, and be capable of expressing personal and commercial statements, if the vehicle owner so desires.
The present invention achieves all of these objectives and provides numerous additional benefits for manufacturers, consumers, and society in general.